Donald Trump hasn’t even been sworn back in as US president yet, but the British public seem to have already made up their minds.
According to a new Ipsos poll, seen by HuffPost UK, nearly two-thirds of the country have an unfavourable view of the maverick Republican.
That is up five points since his election victory back in November, suggesting that the closer we get to Trump returning to the White House, the more convinced Brits are that they don’t like him.
It’s not difficult to see why, either. The same poll shows that voters in this country believe he will be bad for our national security, the economy, political stability around the world and trade between Britain and America.
“We can’t pretend that it’s not a problem,” Emily Thornberry told HuffPost UK after being asked what impact the second Trump presidency, which begins on Monday, could have on the UK.
“One would always hope that the president would be predictable and that’s absolutely not what he is.”
Thornberry insisted, though, that this does not mean that the next four years need necessarily be difficult ones for the special relationship.
She said: “We should take what he has to say seriously but not literally. What we need to do is think about what out interests are and how they align with his.
“We need to remain true to ourselves and our values, but he is the president and we need to work with him as best as we can.”
Top of that agenda, at least initially, will be Trump’s approach to Ukraine, where Starmer visited in recent days for the first time since entering Downing Street last July.
The PM signed a “100-year partnership” with Kyiv as a sign of the UK’s unwavering commitment to the country as the third anniversary of its war with Russia approaches.
Trump, on the other hand, has been far more ambivalent about the conflict, at first saying he could end it in his first 24 hours in office and speaking of his admiration for Vladimir Putin.
Thornberry said Starmer should seize the opportunity to make it clear to the new president that peace cannot come at any cost.
“Trump doesn’t want as one of his first international events to be overseeing a losers’ deal,” she said. “The most important thing is that Ukraine is able to remain a truly independent state and the question would then be how would that work.
“What we want is Ukraine to be in the strongest possible position, so we need time to build them up to be as strong militarily as they can be.
“It needs to be made clear to Trump that anything less than real independence is a losers’ deal.”
The incoming president has also suggested that Nato members should have to spend 5% of their country’s GDP on defence, a potentially ruinous suggestion for the UK government, which aims to hit 2.5% at some point in the future.
Thornberry said: “The US isn’t even spending 5%, so that’s a good example of how we shouldn’t take him literally, but we should take him seriously.
“Everyone agrees that in order for us to meet the capabilities necessary to defend ourselves, Britain needs to increase the amount it’s spending.
“But we do spend more than other Nato countries so we’re not in Trump’s eyeline at the moment.”
“We can't pretend that it's not a problem”
One senior figure in No.10 admitted that Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on all foreign goods entering the US “is a big concern” due to the devastating impact that could have for UK exporters.
“The PM is on record as saying tariffs are a bad thing - that is the thing that most worries people,” said the source.
However, there is optimism in Downing Street that there is more that unites the two governments than divides them.
“Their political analysis is not that far away from our own,” the source told HuffPost UK. “An electorate that feels like it’s not being listened to on the key issues is going to make it known, so it wasn’t a massive shock or a truly terrifying thing that he won. We are not the Democrats, quite frankly.
“He is unpredictable and that creates uncertainty, but Keir went for dinner with him and has had a number of conversations with him, so there is a relationship there.
“We have a respect for him and the office that he has and some of the things he wants to achieve. At heart, our two countries are huge allies and have massive shared interests and that creates opportunities.
“There is also a rich history of Labour PMs getting on with Republican presidents. Republicans tend to be warmer towards Britain than Democrats.”
Another potential difficulty for Starmer is the fact that the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is set to be a key figure in the Trump administration while simultaneously being at war with the Labour government.
Over the past six months he has attacked Starmer on last summer’s riots, his handling of the economy and, more recently, the grooming gangs scandal.
Speaking to the Financial Times during his visit to Kyiv, Starmer tried to brush that off by saying: “What matters to me is my relationship with the US and my relationship with president-elect Trump.
“In the end my experience is that you have to focus on what matters.”
Former Tory minister Damian Collins warned that Musk is “part of the deal” with Trump.
“He’s not a member of the administration as such, so he’s not acting as a government figure, but he’s clearly trying to use his influence and his platform to boost the profile of the people he agrees with,” he told HuffPost UK.
“It’s predictable that they’re now doing it, it’s an active strategy. Twitter I would say is not really a free speech platform, it’s a broadcasting platform that has a strong political agenda, driven by Musk himself. That aligns with Trump’s politics as well.”
Downing Street, like the rest of the world, is bracing itself for President Donald J. Trump 2.0.
While the next four years are unlikely to see a Blair/Bush-style bromance, there is cautious optimism that their relationship could yet turn out to be an unexpectedly beneficial one for both Britain and America.